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Gaga’s “Born This Way” Is Here To Stay

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Columbia Chicago chapter.

Lately, I’ve been hearing mixed opinions and reviews about Lady Gaga’s new song “Born This Way.” Some say they like it, while others say it’s just awful. I personally love it, and it’s something we haven’t heard from her before.

A review I recently found, written by Annie Yuan, from HollywoodReporter.com, titled “Lady Gaga’s ‘Born This Way’ Criticized for Similarities to Madonna Songs” was a good piece and worked well, even though I personally didn’t agree with what she was saying in it.

The article mentioned how critics and fans are commenting that Lady Gaga’s song “Born This Way” is very similar to Madonna’s song “Express Yourself.” The author made valid points about the similarities between the two songs, but I don’t agree with what she said about Gaga completely ripping off Madonna.

Gaga just created a newer, fresher sound, and she revamped it for our generation. I like to think she was inspired by Madonna’s song and didn’t intend to rip her off. I liked the end of the article because the writer gave authoritative and valid sources for people who first heard it and heard comparisons, people who didn’t see any comparisons and those who praised it. It was nice to see a balance between arguments and well-round varying viewpoints because the messages in each song are completely different.

I also recently read another blog post, written by Bo Shell, from TheGAVoice.com, titled “Gaga’s ‘Born This Way’: Impress or ‘Express.’” This one was OK, and the writer gave all opinion and gave other opinions as well from reliable sources in the entertainment industry.

This writer may have had it out for Gaga because like the review I found, Shell kept referring to the similarities between Madonna’s song “Express Yourself” and Gaga’s “Born This Way.” The difference between these two, however, is Shell bluntly said Gaga’s song is “a step back” from her previous songs “Paparazzi” and “Bad Romance.”

The writer also mentioned one of the verses specifically talks about gay, lesbian, bi and transgender affinity and how we want and need more originality from an artist. But I’m left wondering why Shell thinks the songs still sound alike even though the messages are blatantly different? What do you guys think? I think the video is fantastic and completely off the walls!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xl0N7JM3wZk

Jackson is a senior magazine journalism major at Columbia College Chicago, class of 2011. Originally from Cleveland, Ohio, Jackson transferred to Columbia during his sophomore year and considers Chicago to be second home. In addition to being a Campus Correspondent for Her Campus Columbia, Jackson also works as the copy chief for The Columbia Chronicle, Columbia's student-run newspaper, and at Echo, Columbia's student-run magazine, as the fact checking/copy chief and online editor. Jackson especially loves writing about the LGBTQ community and hopes to make it one of his specialities sometime in the future. While being a big believer in karma, Jackson always tries to surround himself with positive energy and positive people. A few of Jackson's favorite things: RuPaul's Drag Race, Family Guy, lemon-flavored Arizona iced tea and Chipotle.